by Bev Prescott
Sharon imagined the beetle frolicking on a sunny day, unaware of its ultimate fate. Just a bug. Just a stupid bug. Just a boy and an old woman. Just a stupid boy and an old woman. “There’s a price to pay for keeping things simple. I’m running out of currency.”
The circling gull swooped down and snatched the beetle.
“I know what my costs are,” Woody said. “I’m curious. What is it that you pay?”
Erik prodded Sharon’s hand with his snout.
“My memories.” She caressed his velvety ear.
Woody tilted her head. “Why your memories?”
“Because forgetting buries the pain of losing.”
“We’ve all buried the ashes of loved ones. Buried never means forgotten. Tell me about the ones you can’t forget.”
Sharon conjured the memories of those who existed as scars on her heart. “I grew up on a farm my great-grandfather built.”
“Farming runs in your blood. And his farm became your farm?”
“Yeah, after my parents got sick and died, my two brothers were drafted by NONA. The only reason the government didn’t take me too was so I could keep the farm going.”
Woody nodded. “The War of Earth’s Rebellion, when NONA started taking 80 percent of everything a farmer could grow.”
“By then the world’s seed banks, water, and soil were destroyed. NONA couldn’t care less about my farm. It was barely functioning anyway.”
“Wasn’t that also around the time that NONA took the Manitoba Grasslands?” Woody asked.
“Yeah. They realized there was only so much food and water to go around. The people they considered most important were the ones who got to eat.”
“And the rest of us,” Woody added, “had to fend for ourselves. NONA adopted the simple biology of cold practicality.”
Erik leaned against Sharon.
“There’s the cost.” Sharon gave the dog the last two beetles in her pocket. “My grandparents and parents were dead. My brother Jon came home from the South China Sea in a box. Mark was murdered by three Banditti he was kind enough to share water and food with. They took his jacket and boots and left his body in a ditch. He’d only been home from war for twelve days. His refusal to kill anymore got him killed. To NONA, my brothers were nothing more than bodies that breathed, ate, drank, and fought. I realized that it was easier to go on if I tried to think of them in the same way. But I had to pay with my memories.”
“Why did the deaths of the woman and the boy, two strangers, bother you so much, then?” Woody asked.
“Because I’m afraid I can’t tell where the line between practicality and inhumanity is anymore.” She swallowed the knot of repulsion in her throat. “No amount of practicality can ever make me forget seeing that poor woman and little boy torn apart on the bridge like they were nothing. For as long as I live, it will haunt me.”
“Not everyone can be saved, Sharon.” A breeze ruffled the end of Woody’s hijab. “And none of us escapes having to sometimes choose practicality over humanity. I’m not even sure there’s a difference. I may have to face the same choices sooner rather than later. If I can’t find more things to grow, how will we decide who gets to eat?”
A voice crackled out of the SComCat clipped to Woody’s jacket, “Woody, Woody, Woody.”
Woody unclipped it and flipped it open. “Woody here.”
“The expedition crew has returned with the man named Elliot. Shall we prepare the ship for departure?”
“Yes, but give me fifteen minutes. I’m down on the port-side pontoon. I need to finish a conversation and climb the stairs into the ship.”
“Roger that,” the voice responded.
Woody returned the SComCat to its clip, and studied the horizon. “There she is, the Belostomatid, maybe two kilometers out. Let’s get inside. Are you anxious to see Elliot?”
“Not in the least.”
“Sounds like another story for another time. For now, we must go.” Woody made for the stairs.
“Wait.”
“Yes?” Woody wheeled around.
Sharon hesitated, wondering what Woody’s age was. She didn’t look much older than Sharon, but she had the wisdom of someone who’d lived several lifetimes. Sharon suspected the Qaunik would walk through fire for Woody, and that she’d never leave a single person behind, practicality be damned. “Thank you for listening and caring. I have a deal I’d like to make with you.” Sharon’s heart raced at what she was about to reveal. She hoped it might fill some of the empty space inside her. “Eve and I. Besides the apples, we have some seeds in an underground growing area. More than kale and potato. There’s lots. Plus some medications Dr. Ryan gave me to safeguard. I’ll share them with you in exchange for something.”
“Are these other seeds what the Strelitzia is after?”
“No.” That the answer was the truth didn’t make Sharon feel less guilty about not telling Woody everything. There was something about the woman that made Sharon revere and trust her. “There’s a boy I left with a woman living in Gaia’s Wrath. If you agree to bring them with you wherever it is you’re going, I’ll give you the seeds in my underground farm. All of them. And, except for what I need to make Eve’s cancer treatment, you can have Dr. Ryan’s medicines.”
“Sounds like a deal I’d be a fool to pass up.” Woody folded her arms. “As for the woman and the boy, the seeds will get them an opportunity to become Qaunik. But they’ll have to earn being vouched in. I have no authority to wager away that essential requirement.”
Sharon reached for Erik, a habit both she and the dog had developed since claiming each other. She curled her fingers into his fur. “I understand. Thank you for giving them a chance.”
“I suspect it will turn out to be a good and practical decision.” Woody lowered her arms to her sides. “One last question. Besides being your wife, who is Eve?”
“The person who saved me after I’d lost everyone I loved.” Sharon looked to the sky and blinked at the sun. She lowered her eyes. “Eve is a botanist. She worked at Harvard before the universities were disbanded.” Sharon smiled at the recollection. “She came to my farm looking for work. Imagine, a brilliant, beautiful scientist asking a grungy, barely functioning farmer for work.” Inside, Sharon felt the growing pressure of emotion threatening to erupt out of her. “She was so beautiful and sweet and funny. Ha, I gave her an apple, and she gave me her heart. God, I miss her.”
Woody put a hand to Sharon’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me. We’re going to help you find her.”
“Thank you.”
“A deal is a deal.” Woody grasped Sharon’s shoulder. “Now, I can’t risk flying Belosto-One into Gaia’s Wrath. But, we have a small shuttle called the Albatross. It’s designed to fly in ferocious winds. I’ll have Federico go with you. After you retrieve the boy and the woman, you’ll have to deal with Elliot.”
“Of course,” Sharon agreed. “The Albatross? How do you come up with this stuff?”
“It’s easy, because we don’t.” Woody tilted her head toward the ocean. “Every problem can be solved by looking for the answer in nature. If we want a ship that flies in strong winds, we study how birds do it. Then we build something that mimics them. Mother Nature has all of the ideas.”
“What’s her answer for fixing the climate?”
Woody chuckled. “Well, Earth is fixing things, her way. We had our chance to have an optimal environment, and we messed it all up. Now we need to adjust to Earth’s terms, if we have any hope of surviving. Let’s get you to Gaia’s Wrath. My engineers are getting hungry.”
# # #
Sharon peered through the windshield of the Albatross. The reinforced glass curved over, around and under four sleek cockpit seats, giving the occupants a bird’s-eye view. The cloud-heavy sky was empty of storms, for now. Secured to the floor by cargo straps, Erik lay sleeping at her feet. Using the wind to fly, the nimble aerodynamic shuttle barely made a sound as it swooped on thermal currents. Sharon had expected the
craft to be shaped like a huge bird, but it was simply a wing—one beautifully symmetrical, cambered wing, with a solar skin to supply power when needed. She felt the Albatross meld into the wind.
Sitting in the pilot’s seat tilted slightly back, Federico swiped and sketched commands over STELA. Oxygen supply masks hung over their heads, at the ready for flying at Mach speed. A 3-D globe plotted out the Albatross’ coordinates and altitude.
“Woody’s inventions are incredible. How did you meet her?” Sharon asked.
“Her parents kidnapped me.” He laughed. “I guess you can’t kidnap the willing.”
“Well now you have to tell me the story.”
“It’s the best story I know.” He drew a W. As it faded, the Albatross’ radar tracked their surroundings out to thirty kilometers. “There’s some ugly stuff.” He pointed to a splotch of green with yellow to red at its center. It edged into the lower left corner of the radar. “I’ll tell you my story, but let’s keep an eye on this storm. It’s moving to meet us.”
“Will do.” Sharon smoothed Erik’s fur. “As for your story, start from the beginning. Where are you from?”
“What used to be Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America. For some reason, God, or whatever higher power one believes in, gave me the gift of singing. I was considered a prodigy, and I could earn coin with my voice. It’s what kept me from starving during the South American Famine. After my parents died, instead of going to an orphanage, I was sent to Chicago to study and sing at the Lyric Opera House.”
“I remember hearing about the famine. Didn’t it start after the glaciers in the Andes melted?”
“Sí. No more fresh water turned into no more farming.”
“That’s when things were getting really bad. I’m surprised anyone cared much about opera.” Sharon pulled the shade a touch lower to block out a strong ray of sun beaming through a crevice in the clouds.
“Music never dies, amiga.” Federico held up a finger. “Even now, just listen for it. Remember, I was singing when we met. You paid me to play you a song.”
She recalled the fluidity and sweetness of his voice. “And I’d pay you again.”
“Next time I sing for you, it’ll be free.” He glanced at the radar. “Anyway, I continued to sing there until my fifteenth birthday. Of course, the only people who could come to the opera were those who could afford to spend money on something other than food or water. Woody and her parents were among them.”
“Are you and Woody close in age?” she asked.
“I’m forty-nine. She’s a couple of years older. Her father was an important scientist in the Ministry of Scientific Advancement before it was abolished. At age seventeen, Woody had already earned a Ph.D. in biomechanical engineering.” A sheepish smile spread across his face. “I always knew when she was in the audience.”
“Yeah, how’s that?”
“Because she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Federico’s cheeks flushed. “I fell in love with her the second that I saw her.”
“So, are you two together?”
“No.” His smile faded. “Woody only thinks of me as a brother. You get the idea. Back to the kidnapping, as I like to call it. The night of my seventeenth birthday, Banditti carried out a terrorist attack against Chicago. They blew up several buildings, including the opera house. I was in the middle of my best ever Roberto Devereux performance.”
“Didn’t something like twenty thousand people die?” Sharon asked.
“Twenty-three thousand, one hundred and forty. When the building started to collapse, I had one single thought. Find Woody.” He held up his hands. “I dug her and her parents out of the debris. The building fell less than a minute after we escaped.”
“And they took you in after that?”
“Yeah. I’ve spent my life by Woody’s side ever since.”
“What happened to her parents?”
“Her father was falsely accused of colluding with the Kingdom of Asia nine years later and executed. Her mom, who was a Muslim, got deported to Syria. She died of cholera before Woody could bring her home.”
“Woody is lucky to have you,” she said.
Federico sighed. “And I’m lucky to have her.” His attention went to the radar. “Speaking of luck, ours is running out. We need to get your friends on board and get the hell out of here. Remind me of their names.”
“Inu and Annie.”
“If we don’t get Inu and Annie on board and above the clouds, that storm is going to chew us up.” He drew an X. A pulsing red circle on the OVA marked the coordinates of the old rest stop. “We’ve got about twenty minutes.”
Buffeted by gathering winds, the Albatross’ wing swiveled back on its hinges, bringing her into a dive.
The acceleration pressed Sharon to her seat. Her ears popped.
Erik lifted his head and whimpered. His ears were probably popping too.
“It’s okay, boy.” She slid her foot closer to the dog to reassure him.
He laid his head on the toe of her boot.
A gust slammed the shuttle hard to the right.
“Easy does it.” Federico switched off the autopilot and grabbed the steering rudder. “Almost there.”
The Albatross maneuvered upright. Its landing skids dropped down, and the shuttle glided to a soft landing.
“We’re down to eleven minutes before the storm is on top of us.” Federico switched the engine to idle. “That’s how much time you have to get back here. I’ll stay with the bird so she’s ready to take off. If something happens, and I have to get her in the air sooner, wait for me. I’ll circle around and come back when it clears.”
Undoing her restraint, then Erik’s, she said, “I’ll drag them if I have to.” She hopped out of the shuttle. With Erik at her heels, she raced toward the rusty storm-shelter door.
“Stop!” Annie shouted from somewhere outside.
Sharon turned in a circle looking for the feisty old woman.
Erik woofed and held still, pointing.
She followed his direction and shouted back, “Annie, it’s me, Sharon!”
“You mean the thief who stole my goddamned coat, and abandoned an innocent boy?”
“Yes! I’m that asshole. And you have no idea how sorry I am.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it.” Annie emerged from the bushes pointing a handmade bow and arrow at Sharon’s chest. “I ought to shoot you right through your black heart.”
Erik lowered his head and growled, showing his teeth.
“It’s okay.” Sharon smoothed the dog’s head.
Federico opened his side of the shuttle.
Annie trained the arrow on him. “Get back inside. Or I’ll land this arrow between your eyes.”
“Nine minutes!” Federico yelled. “Before the storm chews us into a million pieces.”
“Annie.” Sharon pressed closer. “I have your coat and something better. You and Inu can come with us. There’s decent food, water, music, art.” She paused. “Kids who need a teacher.” She held out her empty hands. “They’re good people willing to take you in. You can have a life.”
“This is my life.” Annie shook her head. “Unlike you, I won’t abandon my kids. You know I can’t leave.”
Time conspired against gentle persuasion. And Sharon bet that Annie’s moral compass was stronger than her anger. She moved forward, shielding herself from the possible projectile with her forearm. “You have to face it. The kids you’ve been looking for are gone. I’m sorry you lost them. I’m sorry I took your coat. And I’m sorry I left you. I beg you to forgive me. Either way, I’m taking Inu. But I want you to come too. Please.”
Annie glanced in the direction of the storm-shelter door.
It lifted a few centimeters before bursting open.
“Please!” Inu scrambled out and bolted, arms wide, to Sharon.
“Inu,” Sharon whispered, ignoring the arrow pointed at her. “Inu.” She scooped him into her arms and hugged him close. “I’m so happy
to see you.” The void in her heart felt a little less empty. “I missed you, brave boy.”
He buried his face in her neck. “Please.”
The western horizon grew black as streaks of lightening cleaved the sky. The Albatross bobbled in a gust. Erik moved protectively in front of Sharon and Inu.
She felt the storm’s building pressure in her chest. “Annie, there’s no more time to think. There’s nothing for you here anymore! Come with us.”
“Please, A . . .” Inu’s mouth formed a word he couldn’t seem to get out. “A . . . a . . . Annie.”
The old woman’s eyes filled with tears as she lowered the bow.
“Please, Annie.” Inu opened his hand to her. “Please.”
“Oh, my darling boy.” She hugged her shaking body.
Federico jumped from the Albatross and ran to her. Putting an arm around the old woman, he whisked her into the shuttle.
Erik hopped in behind them.
Sharon settled Inu into the back next to Annie and secured their torso-restraints.
Federico snapped his closed. “Two minutes.” His fingers played over STELA, drawing out commands.
Sharon strapped Erik down and secured her torso-restraint. As the Albatross lifted into the air, she said to Federico. “I think I just kidnapped a kid and a teacher.”
“That you did, amiga.” He looked from the radar to over his shoulder and down at Erik. “A dog too.” Federico pulled back on the steering rudder and sang.
His cheerful aria ushered them above the murderous storm.
Chapter 15
Standing with Sharon in the hallway outside the holding cells, Woody offered her the end of Erik’s leash. “JJ fed and watered the dog about an hour ago. Annie and Inu are settling into rooms here on Belosto-One. Nice people. As for Elliot, the jury’s out on that. He’s sitting in the brig. You’ve told me nothing about him, and he refuses to speak to us. Granted, we did yank him out of the work camp against his will.”
“Have you mentioned me?” Sharon took the leash.
Erik sat on his haunches staring up at the two women.